Damsel In Distress Diaries
by LilPotterfanfic
Summary: Sidney Gilbert was completely ordinary, and then Damon Salvatore came to town and screwed everything up. Now he's dead set on one thing: Ruining Sidney's life in the best way possible.
1. Black Birds

**Damsel In Distress Diaries**  
**Chapter 1: Black Birds**  
**A/N: I recommend listening to Am I Wrong by Nick Vinz and Maps by Maroon 5 while reading this chapter.**

_ September 29th, 2012_  
_Dear Diary,_  
_ Elena is forcing me to be happy._  
_ I swear, sometimes it's like she's the big sister. Which she isn't. I am, I mean. But, as usual, she's forgetting that. Maybe I should do what Aunt Jenna does, and try to be all responsible and stuff._  
_ Anyways. Elena says she's tired of me moping around and being all emo and stuff._  
_ I mean, I guess she's got a point. She's making an honest effort to move past everything, and here I am, sitting in my bedroom, staring at the wall for three hours straight. I haven't even touched my camera since the accident happened. Can you believe that?_  
_ So, yeah, I'll try. It's the least I can do, after all. You know, after my melt down at the funeral and the whole trying-to-kill-myself thing? _  
_ Like I said, I'll try to be happy. For her._  
_ Sincerely,_  
_ Sidney_

"Sidney, come on, we're gonna be late!" Elena's voice called, rapping her knuckles against the bedroom door lightly.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Sidney replied.

She groaned, cracked her back, and closed her journal. "Son of a..." she muttered, as one of the pages sliced open the pad of her finger.

"Did something happen?" Elena asked, pressing her ear up against the door.

Sidney grumbled under her breath, sucking on her index finger, and said, "Paper cut."

Elena sighed in exasperation and headed downstairs. Sidney followed a few seconds later, book bag slung over her shoulder and camera in its rightful place around her neck.

"Oh my God," Elena said dramatically, pressing a hand up against her chest. "You're wearing it."

Sidney rolled her eyes and cracked a grin. "Yep. Someone's awful happy today," she stated, raising an eyebrow.

Elena shrugged and leaned up against one of the bar stools. "I'm trying," she said simply.

Jenna pulled her head out of the fridge and asked, "You girls hungry? I can make toast."

"Ew. Food." Sidney wrinkled her freckled nose unattractively and stuck out her tongue.

"I swear you're anorexic," Elena mumbled, frowning at her older sister. She rolled her eyes and grabbed a mug from one of the cupboards. "It's all about the coffee, Aunt Jenna," she called over her shoulder, pouring said beverage into the cup. "You want some, Sid?"

"Is there coffee?" Jeremy asked, strolling into the kitchen and grabbing an apple out of the basket. He took a sloppy bite out of it, grinning with a moutful of fruit at Sidney's disgusted expression.

Jenna lunged for her purse, digging through it for something or other. "It's your first day of school, and I'm totally unprepared," she mumbled to herself. Smiling in success, she pulled three fives out of her purple wallet and offered them to each of the teens. "Lunch money?"

"I'm good," Elena said, focused on adding the right amount of creamer to her coffee.

Jeremy took his and Elena's fives and stuffed them in his pocket.

"Thank you," Sidney said. Jenna put the money in her hand and Sidney unzipped her bag and slid the bill into her pencil case.

"Anything else?" Jenna asked. "A Number 2.0 pencil? ...What am I missing?"

Sidney frowned and bit her bottom lip. "Didn't you have that big presentation today?" she mused, raising an eyebrow.

Jenna blew her reddish bangs out of her face. "I'm meeting with my thesis adviser at..." She checked the watch on her wrist. "_Now_." She blew out another deep breath and yanked her hair out of its bun. "Crap."

"Then go," Elena urged, setting down her now-empty mug and handing over Jenna's purse. "You'll be fine."

Jenna smiled gratefully, grabbed her purse and rushed out the door.

Sidney released her lip, watching their Aunt go. She turned to Jeremy, who was still chewing on his apple. "You okay?" she asked thoughtfully.

Jeremy scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't start," he muttered, making to follow Jenna out the door.

Sidney tried to stop him, but Elena put a cautioning hand on her shoulder.

"Let him go," she said pointedly, raising a chocolate-colored eyebrow.

Sidney opened her mouth to say something, changed her mind, sighed, and nodded. "Yeah," she said. "Okay. Yeah. I can do that." She noticed the camera around her neck and grinned. "Say cheese," she teased, pulling it up to her eye.

Elena laughed, trying to shield her face with her hands. "Sid, no!" she moaned, giggling.

Sticking her tongue out, Sidney lowered the camera. Her face turned serious again as she noticed the news broadcast over Elena's shoulder.

"Darren Malloy and Brooke Fenton," she muttered. "Ages twenty four and twenty two."

Elena shrugged and tugged on a lock of Sidney's chestnut-y hair. "Let's go," she said. "Remember, no negative thoughts today, alright?"

Sidney nodded. Elena, not looking very convinced, put her hands on her sister's shoulders. "_Alright?_" she repeated, frowning.

"Alright," Sidney finally said, rolling her eyes.

A car horn honked from outside and Sidney grinned. "Come on," she said, nudging Elena's hip. "Bonnie's waiting for us."

Elena groaned dramatically and led the way out the door. Bonnie's light blue mini van was parked in their driveway. Sidney locked the house up, slid the keys into her bag, and sighed as she hopped into the felt-upholstered back seat.

"Remind me to call shotgun next time," she said, glancing around Bonnie's freakishly-neat interior.

Bonnie smiled at her in the rear view mirror. "Happy school year, _chicas_," she said happily, reversing out of the driveway and starting the car down the street. "Ready to kick butt and take names?"

"Someone's been watching _Charlie's_ _Angels_ again," Elena sing-songed, staring out the window.

Bonnie rolled her eyes. The car turned a corner and onto Main Street, windows flashing in the sunlight. "So, Grams is telling me I'm _phsychic_," she said. "Our ancestors were from Salem. Witches and all that. I know. Crazy! But she's going on and _on _about it. And I'm just like, 'Put this woman in a home already'!"

Sidney and Elena both grinned. They were passing the cemetery now, and Elena's smile slipped slightly when the first of the head stones appeared against the black, wrought iron gate.

"But then, I started thinking," Bonnie continued, oblivious to- or just ignoring- her friend's discomfort, "I predicted Obama."

"And you predicted Twilight," Sidney volunteered, leaning through the crack in between the front seats.

"Thank you, Sid. And I still think that Florida will break off and turn into tiny little resort islands," Bonnie volunteered with an affirming head nod.

The two girls laughed, and Sidney pulled up her camera and snapped a picture of the huge willow tree in the center of town square. It was blurry when she looked at it, but she figured it was a pretty good one, considering that she hadn't done any photography over the summer.

Bonnie looked over and saw the third girl in the car, still staring out the window with a zoned-out look on her face.

"Elena!" she snapped.

Elena jumped in her seat and turned to face Bonnie.

"Back in the car?" Bonnie pleaded, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

"I did it again..." Elena sighed. "Didn't I?"

Sidney shrugged and drew her focus off of her camera's screen. "Yep," she answered.

Elena groaned and knocked her head back against the seat. "I'm so sorry, Bonnie," she apologized. "You were telling me that...?"

"That I'm psychic now," Bonnie said with an cocky grin. A laugh came from the backseat.

"Right," Elena said dubiously. "Okay then. Predict something... about me," she challenged.

Bonnie closed her eyes, trying to ignore Sidney's giggles, and muttered, "I see-"

Something black and cylinder-shaped crashed against the windshield. The girls let out a unified shriek as the car went into a tail-spin, and Bonnie struggled to gain control over the wheels as they skidded wildly.

"What was that?" Bonnie demanded, once the car had come safely to a stop.

"I don't- I don't know," Sidney whispered in a scared voice, heart pounding painfully against her rib cage.

Elena was still panting. There was a blank look on her face and she could feel something hot pricking against the back of her eyes.

"Oh my God," Bonnie muttered. "Oh my God," she repeated. "Elena, Sid, are you guys okay?" she asked, suddenly remembering _why _they would be so shaken up about this. "Oh my God. I'm an idiot. An air-headed idiot!"

"It's okay," Elena answered. She took a deep breath, swallowed, and opened her eyes. "I'm fine."

Sidney remained silent, camera clutched tightly against her chest. Her heart was still beating frantically, like it was scared it might stop forever if it slowed down. She looked out the window slowly, not hearing the conversation going on in the front seats.

A black bird was perched on a nearby stop sign. Its feathers shone with a million colors, and even though Sidney was absolutely terrified of anything with wings, she thought it was beautiful.

"'Quoth the raven, never more'," she mumbled, snapping a quick picture before the bird flew away with a piercing caw.

"I predict," Bonnie said loudly. Sidney jumped and finally focused on the other two people in the car. "That this year is going to be kick-ass," Bonnie finished, starting the car again. "And I predict that all the sad and dark times are going to be over and done with." She grinned, looked back, and took Sidney's still-shaking hand. "And that you two are going to be _beyond _happy," she said with a giggle.

The three of them shared an identical grin as the car continued on its path to the high school. The rest of the ride passed in relative quiet, and before Sidney even knew what was happening, Bonnie was parking and they were walking through the crowded Senior Lot and into Mystic Falls High.

"Major lack of male real estate," Bonnie commented, pouting slightly as they entered the building.

Sidney sympathized with her, big time. The only guys were ones they had seen a million times before, and honestly, who wants to kiss someone they've gone through puberty with? Not Sidney, that was for sure.

Bonnie's face screwed up into a disgusted expression. "Look at the shower curtain on Kelly Leach," she muttered, elbowing Sidney in the stomach. "She looks a hot- can I still say tranny mess?" she wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"No." Sidney shook her head, wrinkling her nose again and adjusting the strap of her bag. "That fad is _way _over."

"Eh," Bonnie groaned, shrugging. They had stopped at her locker and she spun the dial a few times, trying to get the numbers in the right position. "Note to self: Find a man. Coin a phrase."

Elena snorted, eyes roving the other students passing by them.

"It's a busy year," Bonnie commented. She smiled suddenly, nodding her head across the hallway.

Matt was standing there, ear buds in, staring at Elena with an expression that could be only be described as full-on angst. Elena smiled kindly at him and waved slightly. He looked at her for a second with deep blue eyes, then turned back to his locker. Elena frowned sadly and faced her older sister.

"He hates me," she sighed, leaning up against a locker door.

"Not _hate_," Sidney said in an un-convincing tone. She bit her lip, trying to find the right words to say. "More like... Like..."

"You dumped me but I'm too cool to show it but secretly I'm listening to Air Supply's Greatest Hits?" Bonnie suggested with a sympathetic nod.

"Elena! Sid! Oh my God!"

Caroline rushed up to them and pulled each of the Gilbert sisters into a tight hug. Her face had worry written all over it.

"How are you?" she asked, pouting.

Elena patted her back awkwardly while Sidney returned the hug full-force.

"It's so good to see you," Caroline said, pulling away but staring at Sidney imploringly. Her eyes slipped down and brightened when she saw the much-missed camera. "Oh my God!" she squealed. "You've got it! You're happy again! Yes!" She took a deep breath and turned to Bonnie suddenly. "How are they?" she asked rapidly. "_Are _they good?"

Elena raised an eyebrow. "Caroline," she called. "We're right here." Caroline smiled. "And we're fine," Elena said, stepping on Sidney's foot lightly.

"Thanks," Sidney added, wincing slightly. She edged a few steps away from her sister.

"Really?" Caroline asked.

Elena nodded. "Yes," she said. "One hundred percent. Completely. Much better."

Caroline sighed and pulled her into another hug. "You poor thing," she whispered.

"Okay, Caroline," Elena groaned. All the touching was starting to smother her. She wasn't all that touchy-feely. Unlike Sidney.

Caroline pulled away, smiling. "See you guys later?" she asked imploringly. She strolled off once they nodded.

Elena turned to Bonnie and let the fake smile drop. "No comment."

Bonnie laughed and they headed to first period.

"Hold up," Bonnie muttered, yanking on Sidney's arm as they passed the office and pulling the three girls to a stop. "Who's this?"

Elena shrugged. "All I see is a back," she said, smiling awkwardly.

"It's a hot back," Bonnie purred, and Sidney let out a bark of laughter. "I'm sensing Seattle," she continued. "A guitar player who enjoys rainy days and long walks on the beach."

Elena snorted and turned to her friend. "You're really gonna run this whole psychic thing into the ground, aren't you?"

Bonnie shrugged. "Pretty much," she agreed, popping her p.

"I'll be right back," Elena muttered, a dark look on her face as she pulled away and shoved past the other students, storming into the boy's bathroom like she owned the place.

Sidney watched her go with a frown. "Not this again," she moaned.

Bonnie pouted sympathetically. "Jeremy?" she asked.

"What else?" Sidney hoisted up the strap of her bag. "Sometimes I'm worried he'll end up as a drug dealer in a trailer park who wears nothing but sweat-stained wife beaters and does nothing but watch football all day."

"Okay, that's ridiculous," Bonnie said. She stared at Sidney dubiously. "Jeremy's a good kid," she implored. "Not everyone recovers as fast as you and Elena, ya' know."

Sidney sighed and shot a furtive glance at her friend. "I haven't," she muttered darkly. "I'm trying to, but I haven't."

Bonnie looked scared and serious suddenly. She grabbed Sidney's shoulders and said, "Sid, promise me you won't-"

"I won't," Sidney snapped, yanking away and cutting her off. "God. I swear, no one can let _go _of it already. Yeesh. I'm fine. See?" She held up her camera. "Happy and annoying and taking a bazillion pictures of everything."

"Are you sure?" Bonnie asked doubtfully.

"I'm _sure_," Sidney answered, rolling her eyes. "Can't we just drop it?"

Bonnie sighed as Elena came back out of the bathroom, fuming. "Fine. But don't think this is the last time we're talking about this." She sucked in a sharp breath and slapped Sidney's shoulder, _painfully_.

"Ouch!" Sidney yelped, glaring at her. "What was that for-?"

"Hottie McHotterson at twelve o'clock," Bonnie whispered out the corner of her mouth.

The new guy turned around and approached them. He was darkly handsome, with messy caramel hair and mysterious brown eyes. Elena's type, Sidney noted.

"Excuse me," he muttered, flashing the girls a curious glance as he waked by them...

And straight into Elena.

Bonnie and Sidney watched, holding back giggles, as Elena awkwardly tried to explain what she had been doing in the boy's bathroom, face bright red, while the new guy grinned charmingly at her. She walked up to them, looking flustered, and muttered, "I just made a total fool of myself."

Sidney laughed and slipped her arm through the crook of Elena's elbow. "Yeah," she agreed, "you kinda did."

Elena scowled and slapped her shoulder. "Shut up!" she exclaimed, but she was smiling and Sidney knew that she had just been joking.

Maybe Bonnie had been right, Sidney mused, as they made their way to first period. Maybe things really were looking up for them.

* * *

"Hey," Sidney called, jogging up to Bonnie after the last bell as she exited her AP European Literature classroom. She looked around the hall, frowning, and asked, "Where's Elena? I thought you two said you had Honors Lit together...?"

Bonnie shook her head and Sidney sighed knowingly. "She's visiting Mom and Dad, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Bonnie said with a nod. "She told me to let you know... Something about meeting her at four?"

Sidney groaned and the two girls meandered over to her locker. "I swear," she muttered mutinously, spinning the dial with harsher-than-necessary movements. "It's like she's turning into one of those sappy, vampire romance novel heroines. I mean, seriously, who goes to a graveyard and writes depressing poetry?" She frowned, tugging down on the latch. "This. Dang. Thing. Won't. Open!" she growled, kicking it with the toe of her sneaker.

"Maybe I can be of some assistance?" a smooth voice purred.

She looked up and saw the new guy staring down at her. Sidney shrugged and stepped back, handing him the combination. "Be my guest," she said with a nod.

A few seconds later and the locker door was swinging open. Sidney grinned and chuckled, grabbed her Math book, replaced it with a notepad, and shut the door again.

"Thanks," she said, smiling up at him. "I probably would have been here for another hour if you hadn't helped me."

The new guy smiled and extended a hand for her to shake. "It's no problem," he said as she took it.

Remembering her manners, Sidney suddenly said, "I'm Sidney Gilbert, by the way. My sister's the one you were staring at in History... Oh. Crap. I wasn't supposed to say that."

New Guy let out a laugh and dropped her hand. "I'm Stefan Salvatore," he said. "And your sister is very beautiful."

"Speaking of which," Bonnie interrupted, raising her eyebrows suggestively. "Sid, didn't you say you had to meet her?"

Sidney blinked a few times, and then got the message: _Elena's boy._

"Oh- _Oh_," she said, understanding. "Right. Uh." She threw a look at Stefan. "Right," she said again, nodding, and turned to go. "See you later, Bonnie. It was nice meeting you, Stefan."

"Likewise, I'm sure!" Stefan called after her as she hurried away.

Sidney burst through the doors and jogged off campus. She only slowed down when her sneaker-ed feet hit the pavement and were walking her down the sidewalk to the cemetery, which was located around the block.

The scratchy granite sign and tall, black gates were as intimidating as ever, and Sidney took a deep, steadying breath before pushing through them.

"Lena?" she called. Her feet found the familiar, dirt path, and she let them carry her along to her parents' grave. There was a thick white fog in the air, and she waved a hand, hoping to ward it off. "Lena, you in here? Bonnie said you would... And you're not," she sighed, when she had come to the right spot and saw that it was empty. She tried to keep her eyes from flickering to the grave marker, not wanting to read the names carved into it.

A black bird landed on top of a nearby statue and cawed loudly. Sidney shrieked, taken by surprise, and her bag fell off of her shoulder.

"Scared?" a low, amused voice asked from behind her.

Sidney jumped about a foot in the air and spun around. Instead of screaming, like she should have, she found herself blurting, "Well, you're attractive."

And he was.

He had messy- _sexy _messy, not sloppy messy- black hair, and almond-shaped, bright blue eyes. His defined chest was showcased by a clingy, expensive-looking black shirt and a leather jacket, and an oddly-shaped ring was on his finger.

He smirked at her. "Why, thank you," he said.

Sidney's mouth dropped open when she realized what she had said, and she smiled awkwardly. "And I'm weird. Wow." She chuckled in embarrassment. "Sorry about that... Um, I'm just, uh..." She glanced around the cemetery. "Looking for my sister! Yeah. She's in here, being all emo and probably writing depressing poetry." Sidney stuck out a hand and grinned sheepishly. She was babbling again. "I'm Sidney," she said. "Sidney Gilbert. Sorry for, you know, being insane."

Instead of shaking her hand, he lifted it up to his lips and pressed a light, hot kiss to it. "Damon," he said, grinning wolfishly at her blush. "A pleasure."

Sidney forgot how to breathe for a second, and then cleared her throat, glancing away. A confused-looking Elena was climbing up a nearby ridge, the hem of her jeans stained with blood.

"Oh my God," Sidney said suddenly, pulling away from Damon and rushing to her sister. "Elena! Are you okay? What happened?"

Elena waved off her sister's anxious hovering and picked up her abandoned, grass-stained book bag. "I'm fine," she said quickly, like she was trying to convince herself. "Really. I just tripped... What are you doing out here?"

"Bonnie told me you were here," Sidney explained. "I was just talking to..."

She looked over to the angel statue. Damon had disappeared.

"And he's gone," she finished. "Weird."

Elena shrugged and handed Sidney her bag. "Come on," she said, taking her sister's hand and pulling her to the gate. "This place is creepy. Let's go."

With one last look over her shoulder, Sidney nodded and allowed Elena to pull her from the cemetery.

A crow, perched on a low-hanging tree branch, watched them go with assessing eyes.

* * *

"We're meeting Bonnie at the grille," Elena announced as she waltzed into the kitchen, pulling a dark brown cardigan on over her inky purple tank top.

Sidney looked up from the screen of her camera and shut it off, letting it swing back on its strap and hit her chest.

"'Kay, have fun," Jenna replied noncommittally, making for the living room. She stopped suddenly and turned back around, saying, "Oh. Wait. I got this." She closed her eyes and sucked in a deep, dramatic breath. "Don't stay out late, it's a school night," Jenna said, placing her hands on her hips with a smug smile.

"Well done, Aunt Jenna," Sidney said with a laugh.

Jenna grinned, turned on her heel, and exited through the living room. Elena turned to Sidney, shook her head, smiling, and pulled open the front door. She stopped suddenly and said, "Oh."

Frowning curiously, Sidney leaned over her sister's shoulder and saw Stefan Salvatore standing on their front stoop. He nodded at her, and then turned his head toward Elena with a charming smile. Sidney grinned and took a seat on the couch, trying her hardest- and failing- not to listen in on their conversation.

"Sorry," Stefan said. "I was about to knock... I wanted to apologize for my disappearing act earlier," he explained. "It's uh, it's strange."

Elena sucked in a deep breath, suddenly feeling very exposed in her tank top. "No worries," she said, nodding. "I get it. Blood makes you squeamish." She added a nervous laugh and looked down at her boots.

Stefan nodded. "Uh... Something... like that," he said, his head continuing to move up and down. "How's your leg?"

"Oh, it's fine. Just a scratch. Barely," Elena answered. She frowned suddenly and said, "How'd you know where I lived?"

Sidney raised an eyebrow from the couch. How _had _he known where they lived?

"It's a small town. I asked the first person I saw."

"Right," Sidney said, deciding it was time to put an end to this little love-fest before Stefan showed any more stalker-ish tenancies. "Elena," she called, getting up from the couch. "Bonnie's waiting."

"Oh." Stefan looked surprised for a second. "You two are meeting someone. My apologies... I'm keeping you."

"No. No," Elena said hastily. "You're not..."

Stefan pulled something from his jacket pocket. It was Elena's green, leather-bound diary.

"I thought you might want this back," he said, handing it to her. "You left it back in the cemetery," he explained.

Sidney furrowed her brow. What had he been doing in the cemetery? Following her?

"I must have dropped it. Thank you," Elena said.

"Don't worry. I didn't read it," Stefan said hastily.

Sidney cocked her head to the side. "No?" she asked suspiciously. "You didn't?"

Stefan finally spared her a glance. "No. I have one of my own, so I know how important privacy is," he said.

Elena cleared her throat awkwardly. "I'm just gonna, um..." She pointed up the stairs behind them. "I'm just gonna put this up. Be right back." She headed up, leaving Sidney and Stefan to stare at each other in silence.

"You don't have to stand out there, you know," Sidney said, remembering her manners. "Come on in."

Stefan grinned and took a few cautious steps into the entry way, almost like he was expecting to be thrown back or something. He looked at the pictures on the walls and the scented candles curiously. "You have a nice home," he commented.

"Thanks," Sidney said. She cleared her throat and continued, "So, how are you liking Mystic Falls so far? Caroline said something about you being a military kid...?"

"It's great. Yeah. I grew up here, and it's nice to be back," Stefan said.

Elena came back down the stairs then, smiling, and put an end to their awkward small talk.

She took a deep breath and said, "Look. Sidney and I are meeting friends at the grille. You can come, you know, if you want..."

Stefan grinned benignly. "Sure," he said.

Sidney licked her lower lip and bit down, smiling faintly as Elena and Stefan talked their way over to Elena's car. Sidney had a feeling those two would make a great couple, a thought that was further reinforced by their playful banter on the way to the grille. As happy as she was to see her sister enjoying herself, Sidney quickly began to feel like a third wheel, and passed the time taking snap shots of the Mystic Falls night life.

Which was pretty much non-existent at seven thirty on a Monday.

They reached the grille quickly and Sidney was first out of the car, eager to see Bonnie's reaction to the whole Stefan-Elena thing.

The grille was bustling with activity as usual when she walked in, and Sidney quickly spotted Bonnie, seated at a table behind the bar.

"Hey!" she called, rushing over and coming to a stop when she saw Matt sitting there. "Hey," Sidney repeated in a softer voice, slipping into a chair next to Bonnie.

Bonnie grinned at her and then turned to Matt. They looked like Sidney had just interrupted an important conversation. Matt frowned at her and looked around as the bell over the door chimed. Sidney winced when Elena and Stefan entered, holding hands to keep from separating. Matt froze for a second, glared at them, got up and left.

"What was that all about?" Sidney whispered, watching Matt go with sad eyes as Elena and Stefan approached the table.

"Tell you later," Bonnie replied, then looked up with a smile. "Hey, guys!"

Caroline rushed over hurriedly as Elena and Stefan took their seats. "So," she commented, subtly kicking Sidney's foot under the table. "Stefan. You were born in Mystic Falls?"

Stefan looked a little taken aback, but was quick to reply with an affirmative, "We uh, we moved when I was three."

"Parents?" Caroline asked next, rapid fire.

"My parents passed away," Stefan answered awkwardly, glancing at Elena and then back at Caroline.

"I'm sorry," Elena muttered, looking shocked.

Sidney frowned, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the sudden serious direction their conversation had taken, and asked, "Any sisters? Brothers?"

Stefan cleared his throat. "None that I talk to. I, uh, I live with my uncle."

"Do something," Sidney mouthed at Caroline.

The blond girl nodded, composed her face into a bright smile, and chirped, "So, Stefan!" He turned to her. "If you're new then you don't know about the party tomorrow."

Bonnie laughed and leaned forward conspiratorially. "It's a back to school thing at the falls," she explained.

Stefan didn't take his eyes away from Elena. "Are you going?"

"Of course!" Sidney answered for her, ever the match-maker. "All of us are- and you should too, naturally," she added with an awkward laugh.

Elena looked at her and grinned knowingly. She glanced down at the table and took a long sip of iced tea, tucking her hair behind an ear. She and Stefan made goo-goo eyes at each other while Bonnie and Sidney squealed under their breaths.

"Then I guess I have to go," he said with a smile

* * *

Sidney smiled as she scrolled through the day's pictures on her camera, stopping on what might have been her favorite of the bunch. It was a candid that Bonnie had taken at the grille, of her and Elena laughing with their arms slung around each other while Stefan looked on in amusement. It was nice to be having fun again. Smiles had been few and far between over the summer.

Sighing, Sidney turned the camera off and set it down on her cluttered bedside table, leaving it to charge overnight. As was her usual evening ritual, she flipped open her journal, grabbed a chewed up pen, and started writing

_Dear Diary,_  
_ As it turns out, pretending you're happy can actually make you happy. Today was weird, but in a good way. I mean, how often do you meet tall, dark and handsome strangers? Even if they are in a cemetery for no reason and seem really creepy. _  
_ Okay, moving on from that._  
_ I think Bonnie may be right... Maybe the dark and sad times really have ended. I guess I'll just have to find out, won't I?_  
_ Sincerely,_  
_ Sidney_

A crow watched on through the window.


	2. Intoxicated

**Damsel In Distress Diaries**  
**Chapter 2: Intoxicated**  
**A/N: For this chapter, I would listen to Spotlight by Mutemath or Don't by Ed Sheeran. To be perfectly honest, I don't like this chapter, so be warned, it will most likely be changed drastically in the future.**

"The Battle of Willow Creek," Mr. Tanner announced imperiously, moving away from the chalk board. "Took place right at the end of the war in our very own Mystic Falls. How many casualties resulted in this battle?" He looked around the room at his students' bored faces. "Sidney."

She jumped in her seat and smiled guiltily. Mr. Tanner had caught her staring out the window, again. "Um." She thought for a second, biting her lip, trying to hide the doodles that were covering her notebook. "More than a hundred?"

"I would appreciate you at least pretending to possess an ounce of competence in that frivolous little head of yours, Miss Gilbert," Mr. Tanner snapped, frowning at her. Sidney slumped in her seat. "Mister Donovan," he continued, placing his piercing gaze on Matt. "Would you like to use this opportunity to overcome your embedded jock stereotype?"

"That's okay, Mr. Tanner. I'm cool," Matt replied.

Mr. Tanner smirked at him condescendingly and turned a few desks away. "Elena? Surely you can enlighten us about one of the town's most significantly historical events."

"I'm sorry. I..." Elena answered. "I... I don't know."

"I was willing to be lenient last year for obvious reasons," Mr. Tanner said, glancing to Elena and then to Sidney. "But the personal excuses ended with summer break."

Sidney flinched like she had been struck. Elena glanced down at her notebook, a familiar suffocating feeling welling up inside of her.

"Three hundred and forty six casualties," Stefan's cool voice spoke up from the next desk over, causing Sidney to smile just the slightest bit, because, hey, she had been right. "Unless you're counting local civilians."

"That's correct," Mr. Tanner said, sounding stunned. "Mister...?"

"Salvatore."

"Salvatore. Any relation to the original settlers here at Mystic Falls?" Mr. Tanner asked.

"Distant," Stefan replied in a clipped voice.

"Very good. Very good," Mr. Tanner muttered, pacing. "Except, of course, there were no civilian casualties in this battle."

"Actually," Stefan snapped, "there were, uh, twenty seven, Mr. Tanner. Confederate soldiers, they fired on the church, believing it to be housing weapons. They were wrong. It was a night of great loss."

Mr. Tanner looked as though you could knock him over with a feather as he let the chalk slip out of his hands. Sidney was tempted to take a picture.

"The Founders' Archives are, uh, located in City Hall. If you'd like to brush up on your facts," Stefan added suggestively.

Sidney's phone buzzed with a text. Bonnie smirked at her across the room as she read it.

**Apply sterile bandage to area of burn.**

* * *

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly. Math was boring, Chemistry was pointless, Lit was repetitive, she barely took any pictures, and before Sidney even knew it, the door bell was ringing and Caroline and Bonnie were hustling into Elena's room, wielding curling wands and mascara brushes.

Sidney supposed that they were relatively lenient this time. Caroline didn't do anything to Elena's already-perfect, chocolate brown hair, and Bonnie didn't try any crazy new makeup looks, letting Elena's natural beauty take center stage. Sidney dressed her younger sister in relaxed- but still cool- clothes, and they drove to the falls, listening to pop-y music to get themselves in the right mood.

The log gazebo was already packed with sweaty, horny, intoxicated teenagers when they arrived. Paper lanterns were strung up between the trees and Mutemath was blaring through the speakers.

"Come on!" Caroline yelled, spotting a drinks bar across the field. She seized Sidney by arm of her blue shirt and tugged her forward.

They reached the table and each grabbed a beer. Caroline popped the tab of hers and chugged while Sidney poured the liquid into a bush while her friend wasn't looking. She smiled shyly at Matt, who was tending the bonfire, and he waved back at her politely. Sidney felt herself blush and turned to Caroline.

"What?" she asked. "I'm just saying hi."

"Sure you are," Caroline said with a laugh and a knowing smirk.

Sidney sighed and glanced down at the beer can in her hands, suddenly wishing that she hadn't poured out its contents. What could it hurt? Sidney was far away from the oak tree in the back yard, and it wasn't like she was going to try and kill herself again. She was happy. Things were looking up, weren't they? She could see the light at the end of the tunnel, couldn't she?

Sidney bit her lip in hesitation, grabbed a full bottle of Corona Light, took a swig, snapped a quick picture of the bonfire's dancing flames and looked back over at Caroline. "Come on," she found herself saying, as 'Hot and Cold' started to play. "Let's dance."

With a shrug, Caroline followed her into the grinding mass of bodies that surrounded the fire, and they started jumping along in time with the beat, singing the words obnoxiously to each other.

"'Cuz you're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no! You're up then you're down, you're in then you're out!"

Before long, two boys that Sidney couldn't remember the names of had joined them. After a few songs, one of them got her a drink and she downed it. After that, the dancing got quicker and a bit more sensual, and she found that she was growing steadily warmer in her long-sleeved shirt and jeans.

"I'm gonna go cool off!" she yelled to Caroline, who was looking preoccupied with something over Sidney's shoulder. Caroline waved her off and Sidney slipped through the crowd and away from the gazebo, nearly bumping into Stefan.

"Hey," she said, grinning, still exhilarated from the adrenaline rush that dancing had given her.

Stefan stared down at her in concern, putting his big hands on her shoulders. "Are you drunk?" he asked bluntly.

Sidney giggled and shook her head. The party lights were swimming around her. "Psssh." She waved a hand through the air nonchalantly. "Nah. I'm cool."

"You're drunk," Stefan said, ignoring her. "I can smell it on you."

"Wel... Maybe I am a little drunk," Sidney said with a frown, stumbling slightly as the soles of her boots skidded against the mud. It had rained the night before and the stairs were dotted with puddles.

"Where's Elena?" Stefan asked, face steadily becoming more serious. "I take it you're a bit of a lightweight, and you shouldn't be walking around by yourself like this."

Sidney shrugged, and suddenly burst into a fit of mad giggling, swaying back and forth. Stefan spotted Bonnie near the bonfire and waved her over.

"Sidney's drunk," he muttered lowly once she had reached them. "Can you look after her?"

Bonnie nodded, face grave, and took hold of the brunette girl's wrist. "Thanks, Stefan," she said. "For taking care of her, I mean."

Stefan nodded and stepped away. "It's not a problem," he answered, just as Caroline barreled over to them, looking just as intoxicated as Sidney.

"Hey, you made it!" she exclaimed, smiling happily.

"I did," Stefan said with a nod.

"Well, let's get you a drink," Caroline purred suggestively, ignoring Sidney and Bonnie.

Stefan shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. He really just wanted to find Elena, and it was becoming steadily obvious to him that Caroline was just as drunk- if not more- than Sidney was.

"I'm good," he replied in a voice that broached no argument, and spotting Elena, walked over to her briskly.

"C'mon Sid," Bonnie muttered, trying to tug her intoxicated friend in the direction of the parking lot. "Let's get you home."

"Aw," Sidney moaned, leaning up against her friend. "But Bon Bon... I wanna stay and dance s'more." She let out a drunken giggle and tugged on Bonnie's wrist. "C'mon, it'll be fun."

Bonnie groaned and followed her. "Sid, you know this isn't a good idea. Remember what happened the last time you got drunk?" she asked darkly.

Sidney froze and turned back to her. Her green eyes were glassy and clouded over. "Don't talk about that," she snapped.

"Vicki! What the hell?" Tyler yelled suddenly, running over to the treeline. Jeremy was walking into the clearing, Vicki Donovan's unconscious and bleeding body held in his arms.

"What happened?" Matt demanded. He watched with wide eyes and yelled, "Somebody, call an ambulance!"

"Everybody, back up, give us some space," Tyler shouted as Jeremy laid Vicki out on a picnic table.

"Oh my God," Bonnie whispered. She looked across the crowd and saw Elena standing there, mouth dropped open in shock.

Sidney just kept staring and staring. What possibly could have done _this_ to Vicki?

A siren sounded shrilly as emergency vehicles raced onto the scene, and the party-goers dispersed, not eager to be taken in for underage drinking.

"Let's go," Bonnie said, pulling Sidney to her feet and leading her into the parking lot. She grabbed Caroline along the way and stuffed both girls into the back of her car after making Jeremy promise to see Elena home safely.

They pulled away with a screech of tires and approached the town, Bonnie frantically trying to think of what to do. She finally came to a stop at a nearby coffee shop, and deciding that Sidney and Caroline were just shocked and shaken up, ordered a round of coffees to sober every one up.

"Drink," Bonnie ordered. "I don't wanna have to explain to Mrs. Forbes and Jenna why I'm bringing you two home intoxicated."

"I think I might be sick," Sidney groaned. She got up from the table, stumbled into the girls' bathroom, fell to her knees, and threw up until there was nothing left in her stomach.

Feeling disgusted with herself, she shed her smoke-scented jacket and pulled her sweaty hair up into a ponytail. After splashing her face with cold water and chewing on a stick of gum, she felt much better, and sat back down with an alert look in her green eyes.

"Feeling better?" Bonnie asked knowingly, as Caroline inhaled three coffees in a row.

Sidney nodded and grinned weakly. "I think I'll take that drink now." She grabbed a steaming hot mug and sucked it down.

* * *

Three hours passed and Sidney had successfully flushed out whatever the heck had been in that bottle. Caroline though? Not so much.

"Are you sober yet?" Bonnie asked her.

Caroline shook her head numbly, tossing back the dregs of an empty mug. "Nope," she moaned.

"Keep drinking," Sidney ordered, sipping on black coffee now.

"I gotta get you home," Bonnie joked. "I gotta get _me _home."

Caroline snorted and rubbed her index fingers against her temple. "Why didn't he go for me?" she asked suddenly, and Bonnie and Sidney knew who she was talking about.

Stefan.

"How come the guys I want never want me?"

"I'm not touching that," Sidney murmured, shaking her head whilst tracing the grains of the wooden table with a chewed up finger nail.

"I'm inappropriate," Caroline continued. "I always say the wrong things... and _Elena _always says the right thing." She snorted and exclaimed, "She doesn't even try! And he just picks her. And she's always the one that everyone picks, for _everything_! And I try _so hard_... and I'm never the one."

"It's not a competition, Caroline," Bonnie breathed, shaking her head.

"Yeah, it is," Sidney muttered sourly, still staring at the patterns on the table. "Caroline's right... Elena's kinda sorta perfect. You think you've got it bad?" She stopped and looked up at Caroline. "I _live _with her."

Bonnie sighed and stood up, throwing two twenties down on the table.

"Come on," she said, deciding not to comment. "Let's go. It's three in the morning, and I need sleep."

Sidney nodded in agreement and followed, not noticing the electric blue eyes that followed her out the door.

* * *

_ September 30, 2012_  
_Dear Diary,_  
_ Note to self: Never so much as touch alcohol. Ever again.  
__Sincerely,_  
_ Sidney_


	3. The New Boy

**Damsel In Distress Diaries**  
**Chapter 3: The New Boy**  
**A/N: I'd listen to Walking On Air by Katy Perry for this chapter, and I'm not gonna lie, I think you guys are gonna like this one a lot.**

"Someone's been happy this week," Sidney commented, grinning knowingly as she finally caught up to Elena, who was walking down the sidewalk in front of their house.

Elena threw her head back and laughed, something Sidney had decidedly _not _been expecting from her. "I can't help it," she said cheerfully, swinging her bag back and forth like a kid.

Sidney smiled again as they exited the cul-de-sac and turned onto main street. "This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Stefan Salvatore?" she teased, bumping her hip against Elena's. "Would it?"

"And so what if it does?" Elena asked with a toothy smile, ignoring the question.

"Nothing, nothing," Sidney replied mysteriously, shrugging. "I'm glad. You deserve it for once. Just a little surprised is all. I mean, you've barely ever looked twice at a boy. And the whole Matt thing? Yikes. I mean, it was like you were just friends who made out and stuff. What? Why are you staring at me like that?"

Elena was looking at her with an open mouth and a happy light in her eyes. "You like Matt!" she accused, bouncing a little as they walked.

Sidney bit her lip and shifted her attention to the grille, lifting her camera to take a random picture. "Well, yeah," she replied noncommittally. "He's _Matt_. We're friends."

"Not friend like, _like _like!" Elena continued, socking her older sister in the arm, causing her to nearly drop her camera.

"Elena!" Sidney groaned. She checked for damages, frowning.

"Come on," Elena implored, as they waited to cross the street and headed onto school grounds. "Just tell me- I'm your sister, you have to."

Sidney frowned, fiddled with the hem of her shirt, and then said, in a soft voice, "Okay. Okay, _yes, _I like Matt... Just... Just don't mention anything to him, alright? He barely even knows I exist."

Elena chuckled and pulled away. "You never know," she sing-songed. "Maybe this'll be your lucky year. After all, Bonnie says things are looking up for us."

"For _you_ maybe," Sidney grumbled, dodging a pack of lacrosse stick-wielding boys as they charged across the school's lawn. "I, however, have already met a serial killer in a cemetary and had my drink spiked. I think I may have broken a mirror or stepped under a ladder recently without realizing it."

With a laugh, Elena entered the school building first, leading the way through the maze of lockers and hormonal teenagers to their first period History class.

"You should talk to him," she said. "Shake him up a bit. Make him realize you're there. You know?"

Sidney shook her head. "No way. I don't _talk_, Elena. I babble. I get nervous around Matt, and when I get nervous, I get weird, and when I get weird, crazy stuff comes out of my mouth. Therefore, I do not talk," she stressed vehemently.

"Talk to who?" Bonnie asked, throwing an arm around either sister and flawlessly entering the conversation as if she'd been there since the beginning.

"No one," Sidney said quickly, cheeks a rosy red.

Elena grinned cheekily as they entered the classroom. "Matt," she whispered in a conspiratorial tone.

Bonnie gasped dramatically. "No way," she said, whipping out her cell phone. "Wait until Caroline hears about this!"

"No!" Sidney practically shouted, lunging for her.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Matt's voice asked.

Sidney froze, lost her balance, and fell. When she stood back up she was blushing bright red, visible even underneath all the freckles peppering her nose and cheeks. "Uh, h-hey, Matt," she said in a high, reedy voice. "How's it going?"

Mr. Tanner scowled at them from his desk at the front of the room, holding a florescent yellow piece of paper in his hands. "Miss Gilbert," he snapped.

Both Elena and Sidney turned to face him.

"Miss _Sidney_ Gilbert," Mr. Tanner said with a sigh. He handed Sidney the slip of paper once she had reached him. "Your presence has been requested in the front office. That is, if you're done making an idiot of yourself in front of your friends."

Sidney flushed redder and shook her head. "Yes sir," she said in a quiet voice. "Bye, guys- I'll see you in a bit."

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Stefan demanded, storming into the registration office.

Damon looked up from the secretary he had been compelling, and smirked. "Brother," he drawled, leaning an arm up against the desk. "Lovely to see you as well."

Stefan looked around at the steadily-emptying hallway, shut the door, and leaned closer. "Look," he growled, "I don't know what you think you're playing at, coming here, but I'm telling you right now to leave before this gets messy."

With a wave of his hand, Damon sent the secretary into the student archives. He let out a bark of a laugh and turned to face his brother. "And what, pray tell, are you going to do about it? Hm, Steffy? Fight me? You can't. Pretty sure we established that last night." He snarled suddenly and pinned Stefan up against the door with a hand to the other vampire's throat. "Face it, oh, brother of mine," Damon continued in a casual voice, as Stefan struggled to breathe. "You can't do a thing."

"Alright, Mister Salvatore," the secretary announced, bustling back into the room with a file in her hands. Stefan dropped to the floor with a gasp and a thunk. "You're all signed up."

Damon smiled charmingly and took the folder from her. "Thank you, ma'am. You've been a great help."

The secretary giggled under her breath and shot a look at the door. Voices could be heard the hallway, a familiar voice that Stefan tensed when he heard.

_"...guide? We don't have..."_

_"Not usually... special case."_

"What are you up to?" Stefan growled, quiet enough that the secretary couldn't hear him, but loud enough so that Damon could.

The blue-eyed vampire just smirked.

There was knock on the door. The secretary smiled and said, "There she is now. Your student guide, Mr. Salvatore."

"Student guide?" Stefan asked. "I didn't get a student guide- Wait. You're a student here, Damon?"

Damon clapped Stefan on the shoulder. "As of two minutes ago," he said proudly. "Yeesh. Where have you been? Under a rock?"

The door swung open with a creak and the guidance counselor stepped to the side, revealing a very confused Sidney Gilbert.

"Uh, hi, Stefan," she said, smiling awkwardly.

Stefan just scowled at her. She let the smile drop, even more confused than she had been when she walked through the door.

"Um, so," she said, drawing out. "Do you have any idea why I'm here, or...? Oh. Oh, hi. It's, uh... It's you."

Damon had decided to make his presence known by hopping up onto the secretary's desk, who didn't seem to mind all that much. "Yep," he said with a lascivious smirk. "Me. It's Sidney, right?"

She cleared her throat awkwardly, shot Stefan a help-me look, and said, "Yeah. Hey, grave yard dude, didn't know you would be coming here."

"Grave yard dude?" Stefan said suddenly. "What does she mean grave yard dude?"

"I'm right here, you know," Sidney grumbled in a surly voice.

Damon just ignored Stefan, his gaze fixed on the brunette girl. "It's Damon. I'll be attending school here starting today. You're my student guide."

Sidney bit her lip. "Oh. I thought your name was Devon." She shrugged with a slight, sheepish grin. "Okay, then. Didn't know we had student guides, but okay then," she said, looking at the secretary. "What exactly am I supposed to do as a 'student guide'?" she asked.

Grinning wolfishly, Damon hopped off of the desk, slung an arm around Sidney's shoulders and waltzed out of the office, flicking Stefan off behind his back.

"It's simple," he said conversationally. "Show me to my classes. Make sure I don't get lost. Protect me from the evil, bullying jocks. Introduce me to the resident drug dealer. Offer me your body..."

Sidney chuckled and slipped away from him. "The first three, I can do," she said, grinning slightly. "The last two?" She chuckled again. "Sorry, Damon, but you're on your own there."

"He's on his own, period," Stefan stated in a flat voice, striding out of the office with determination in his face. "Sidney, head to Mr. Tanner's class. Damon doesn't need a student guide."

"Actually," Damon said, "I do. I'll get lost."

"Then find a different one," Stefan growled in a low voice.

Sidney shifted awkwardly. "I'm sensing some tension here... Do you two know each other?" she asked.

Damon turned to her and grinned charmingly. "We're brothers," he said, ruffling Stefan's hair affectionately. "Can't you see the resemblance, Siddie?"

"Not really. No. You look nothing alike."

"That's fortunate," Damon said. "For me, at least. Stefan, though? Not so much." He cleared his throat and smiled widely, like he hadn't just insulted his brother, hooked an arm through Sidney's and steered her off down the hall, leaving Stefan behind them.

"So, Siddie," he said, handing her his schedule, "what's first?

Sidney bit her lip and stopped. She removed her arm from Damon's, shivering slightly at the loss of contact, and opened up the cream file folder. "Well, I can see why I'm your student guide," she commented lightly, frowning. "We've got every class but Language Arts, Chemistry, and Photography together."

Damon threw a smirk back in Stefan's direction. "Well," he said, "isn't that something?"

"Yeah," Sidney muttered, still frowning suspiciously, "it is." She shook her head, handed the folder back over to Damon, and started walking toward Mr. Tanner's classroom again. Stefan caught up with them after a few seconds, a surly expression on his face. Damon smirked at him behind Sidney's back as she talked.

"The bell rang a few minutes ago so it looks like you're gonna be making a very public entrance, Damon," she joked lamely. "Stefan, I have no idea what we're gonna tell Mr. Tanner about you... Checking Damon in, maybe? By the way, Tanner's kinda a jerk. Try not to get on his bad side. Oh, yeah, I forgot to ask, how old are you two, anyways?"

Stefan blinked a few times, still slightly put off by Sidney's rapid fire manner of speaking.

"I'm the oldest," Damon answered, still smirking. "Eighteen. Steffy's only seventeen."

Sidney nodded before pushing the door open and leading the way into the classroom. Every head snapped up and stared at the trio as they entered.

"Well," Mr. Tanner said in a scathing voice, "to whom do I owe this lovely interruption? Ms. Gilbert! I should have known- and it looks like Mr. Salvatore has joined you this time as well. Lovely... Who's this?"

"Damon Salvatore." Damon grinned at the class, winking at Caroline and shooting a not-so-subtle glance behind him. "Stefan's older brother. Followed him here from Seattle."

"Told you," Bonnie whispered, leaning over in her seat to talk to Elena.

Elena frowned, studying the two boys at the front of the classroom. "Stefan didn't tell me he had a brother," she mumbled unhappily.

Sidney shrugged at both of them and quietly took her seat diagonal from Matt, trying not to draw any attention to herself. Damon, after obtaining a syllabus and text book from Mr. Tanner, took a desk behind her and amused himself for the period by blowing on the back of her neck and smirking at Stefan, who sat on pins and needles the entire time, keeping close to Elena.

The second the bell rang he was out of his seat, following Elena out of the classroom. Damon watched him go with a smirk, relishing the fact that he had just pulled that love-train to a screeching halt. He frowned when he saw the dreamy look Sidney was giving the blond human that waved at her.

He tugged on a light brown wave, and she turned to look at him with a scowl.

"What's next, Siddie?" he asked casually.

She cleared her throat and glanced down at the schedule that had magically appeared on Damon's desk.

"Uh... Spanish," she said, standing and grabbing her text book. "Fair warning, it's probably the most boring class you'll ever have in your life."

* * *

Glancing around her computer station furtively to make sure her photography teacher, Mr. West, was no where in sight, Sidney pulled the familiar, burgundy leather journal from her bag and flipped to the right page, uncapping a chewed up pen.

_October 1st, 2012_  
_Dear Diary,_  
_ Damon is weird._  
_ Well, that's a given, considering I met him in a grave yard and everything, but still... He's weird, you know? Of course you don't, you're an inanimate object._  
_ Anyway. It's like I amuse him, or something. Like I'm some sort of pet who does tricks for him. I don't know, maybe I'm over thinking things._  
_ Whatever._  
_Sincerely,_  
_Sidney_

The bell tolled out shrilly and Sidney stuffed the journal back into her bag and followed the other students out of the classroom. She had told Damon to meet at her locker, and was hoping to get there before he could cause a riot of hysterically screaming, hormonal teenage girls.

Sidney knew he was attracting a lot of attention from the female population of the school (and, consequentially, negative attention from the males). She didn't want any of that attention to rub off on her, earning herself either a reputation as a source of information on the hot new guy, or a reputation as a total slut.

Luckily, Damon wasn't getting mobbed by any underclassmen, and they were able to make it to the cafeteria relatively unscathed.

"Please tell me we're not eating in here," he said the second they walked into the large, crowded room. He eyed the overweight lunch lady and the limp, floppy hamburgers warily.

Sidney shrugged and led the way through the maze of tables to the back wall, which was made entirely of windows.

"No," she said. "No one eats here- everyone who can drive goes off campus for lunch, although some of us hang around the courtyard and the front lawn... I think Elena and Caroline are staying here today. Bonnie had to go visit her Gram..."

They walked through the doors as she was talking to herself, and Damon raised an eyebrow as he looked around at the picnic tables, pine trees, and jocks tossing a football back and forth.

And then Sidney saw Jeremy.

"Oh, God," she groaned, forgetting about the really hot guy standing behind her. "What is he doing now?"

With a deep, exasperated breath, she hurried over to Tyler Lockwood, Jules McIntosh, Genevieve Andrews, and Jeremy.

"Don't make me kick your ass," Tyler growled, glaring at Jeremy.

Jeremy squared his shoulders and retorted, "You know, you keep saying that, but when're you actually gonna do it? 'Cause I vote for right here and right now." He gave Tyler's shoulders a hard shove, slamming him into the metal fence, and Sidney decided it was time to intervene.

"Whoa," she called, sticking a hand in between the two boys. "Uh, calm down. Neither one of you need a suspension for fighting."

Tyler shrugged away from her and glared stonily. "Walk away, Gilbert," he warned, and Sidney wasn't sure which one of them he was talking to. "This is your final warning."

Jeremy snorted and leaned in closer. "No, this is your final warning, dick," he growled.

"What part of calm down do you two not understand?"

"Beat it, Sid," Jeremy finally said in an exasperated voice. "I don't need my sister to protect me."

Sidney huffed indignantly and crossed her arms. "Oh, look at you, all grown up," she mocked. "Fine. Go ahead. Get the crap beat out of you. See if I care."

She huffed again when Jeremy didn't even acknowledge her and spun around on her heel, storming back over to an amused Damon, glowering.

"Family issues?" Damon asked innocently.

"Screw you," Sidney muttered for lack of anything better to say, causing him to snort.

"Sid!" Caroline called suddenly, barreling over like she usually did and yanking on Sidney's forearm.

"So," she said, pulling her along, Damon walking behind them, "Bonnie told me about you and Matt-"

"She did what?" Sidney demanded.

Caroline rolled her eyes and said, "Told me about you and Matt. Oh, don't give me that look," she admonished. "I'd have figured it out eventually- anyway, she told me about how you like Matt, and I've decided that you two would be perfect for each other! So, I'm helping."

Sidney blushed and glanced down at her boots. "I don't know," she said hesitantly. "I'm cool with just being friends-"

"Look," Caroline said suddenly, completely ignoring her, "there he is- go talk to him!"

And with that, she shoved Sidney forward and directly into Matt's path.

"Whoa, sorry," he said, stumbling to a stop.

Sidney bit her lip nervously and glanced away. "Uh, hey, Matt," she said in a shaky voice. "H-How's Vicki?"

Matt stared at her for a minute. "They're keeping her overnight to make sure she has no infection, but she should be able to come home tomorrow," he answered finally, starting to walk again.

Nodding, Sidney fell into step beside him. "That's good news," she said awkwardly.

"Yeah," Matt agreed.

Sidney bit her lip again. "Does your mom know?" she asked.

Matt's face went stoney. "I called and left a message," he said. "She's in Virginia Beach with her boyfriend, so... We'll see how long it takes her to come rushing home."

Well, that became awkward quickly. Sidney didn't do too well with depressing, serious conversations- she was more the cheering-up type.

"Um, at least Vicki's gonna be okay," she suggested lamely. She frowned down at the text books in her hands. "Did she say what kind of animal it was that attacked her?"

Matt opened his mouth to respond and then shut it. "Hold on," he said. "I'll talk to you later, I've gotta... Hey, Elena!"

He rushed off, Sidney staring after him.

"Well that seemed like an awkward, angst-ridden conversation," a smooth voice whispered in her ear.

Sidney jumped about a foot in the air, dropping all of her text books. "Dang it, Damon!" she muttered, dropping to her knees to pick them all up. "Don't do that... And yeah, it was kind of a failure of massive proportions."

Damon watched as she scrambled around in the grass. "So, what's the deal with you and pretty boy?" he asked, cocking his head over in Matt and Elena's direction. "Love triangle? He seems pretty into your sister."

Sidney huffed again, blowing a piece of wavy brown hair out of her face. "They dated last year," she said. "Before the... accident. She dumped him."

"And you like him," Damon finished. "But he's still going after Elena."

"Pretty much, yeah," Sidney said with a shrug.

Damon raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, and the pair continued on their way, not noticing Stefan, who watched them suspiciously from his seat on a picnic bench.


	4. Want Versus Need

**Damsel In Distress Diaries**  
**Episode 4: Want Versus Need**  
**A/N: For the second half of the chapter, I'd recommend using Human by Christina Perri as background music. As someone who used to struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts in the past, I encourage you to talk to someone if you've experienced either of these. If mentions of suicide or cutting could trigger something, you should probably stop reading now, as this story focuses a lot on both topics, and is partly about Sidney's struggle to overcome a depressive past.**

By the time her shift working the cotton candy booth at the festival was over, Sidney felt like punching someone. Her hair was sticking to the back of her neck from sweat and frizzing out because of the heat, the straps of her dark green sundress kept slipping off of her shoulders, her face was itchy from the sunscreen slathered on it, she was thirsty, the noise of the crowd was giving her a head ache, and her hands were sticky from the cotton candy.

"I thought it would never end," she moaned dramatically, pushing heavy, light brown hair away from her scowling face.

Anastasia Graham, fellow senior and member of the school newspaper, shifted awkwardly in her seat across the table from Sidney. Anastasia had been working the same shift Sidney was, and looked faintly uncomfortable to be socializing with an actual, living human being. She was more than a little bit shy. Sidney probably should have been a bit more excited about hanging out with someone who was actually her own age, (after all, hanging out with her sister's sixteen-year old friends probably wasn't the "cool" thing to be doing) but Anastasia was just plain awkward.

The waitress, Kate, finally handed them their drinks, smiling faintly at Sidney as she did so. They didn't get along very well, but they were cordial, for the most part. "Here ya' go."

"Thanks," Sidney said gratefully, giving the straw of her iced latte a hard suck. She swallowed, sighed happily, and looked at Anastasia again. "What're you gonna do for the rest of the festival?" Sidney asked conversationally. "Meeting with friends?"

Anastasia shook her head. She hadn't even touched her iced tea yet. "I'm meeting my brother and his wife for the concert and the comet, then I'll head home," she said. She glanced down at the gold and leather watch on her wrist and sighed. "Speaking of which, I need to go. Bye."

"Bye," Sidney said, and Anastasia slung her bag over her shoulder and left.

Sidney sighed and leaned back in her seat. She hadn't really wanted to join the school newspaper in the first place, but Mr. West, who ran the paper, said that they needed a new photographer, and had bribed Sidney with all-hours access to the dark room and editing software. The only downside was the awkward conversations with other club members (like Anastasia) and having to do things like run the club's booth during the festival.

"Fancy seeing you here, Siddie."

Fighting back a groan, Sidney lifted her head off the back of her chair and glared at Damon, who had claimed Anastasia's seat and was smirking. "Can I help you?" Sidney asked pointedly.

"Elena came over to our house last night." Damon sounded like he was a teenage girl gossiping. "She seemed a little upset with my dearest brother."

"I know," Sidney grumbled, still glaring at him for interrupting her peace and quiet. "Elena told me."

Damon grinned in satisfaction and leaned back in his chair. "So, she told you about the family feud?"

"She told me about Stefan's ex-girlfriend and how he acted like Edward Cullen," Sidney snarked, raising an eyebrow. "Not in those exact words," she admitted, "but still."

"I sense some grumpiness coming from milady," Damon drawled. He raised an eyebrow and took a swig of the alcoholic-looking drink he had in his hands. "Anything you wanna tell me?"

Sidney raised her eyebrows right back because, hey, two could play at this game."No. I don't know if you realize this, Damon, but normal people don't typically go spilling their guts to some really hot guy they've known for a week."

"You called me hot," Damon pointed out with a smirk, laughing when Sidney groaned.

"Okay, okay," she conceded with a slight grin, sighing immediately afterwards. "My aunt found out my brother's a stoner- I mean, seriously, why is she so surprised? It was kinda obvious. And Elena's all angsty 'cause of Stefan, Bonnie's acting weird, Caroline keeps trying to set me up with Matt, and, no offense to children, but I just spent the day watching hordes of them pick their nose while I got covered in spun sugar. I'm not exactly in the best of moods right now."

"You know what you need?" Damon said, as Kate approached them with another glass of iced coffee for Sidney. "Something with lots and lots of booze."

"You're telling me," Sidney said with a grin, Kate switching glasses and walking away with them. Sidney sighed as the smile slowly dripped off her face, frowning as she remembered the drunken haze and the knife and the bottles of alcohol buried in the woods... She shook her head and sighed again.

"There's a lot of things I need," she said. "Unfortunately, none of them are very good for me."

Damon didn't say anything for a long while, just stared at her, and Sidney didn't feel awkward, for some reason. She just felt... like he understood what she had wanted to say but couldn't.

He finally blinked and took another sip of his drink. "So, are you alone?" he asked. "I thought you'd be with lover boy."

Sidney scowled again at the reminder. "Matt and I are just friends," she snapped. "And I'm meeting up with him, Elena, Bonnie, and Caroline in a bit."

"Ah," Damon said, and Sidney felt like he was mocking her. "And will the always-lovely Stefan be there?"

"Considering how Elena spent all of last night ranting about his all-around idiocy, I wouldn't count on it," Sidney replied drily. She turned away and took a deep breath. It felt like every time one of them talked, they were trying to start a fight, and she hated that. She'd dealt with that enough with Jeremy after Mom and Dad had died.

Before either Sidney or Damon could say anything else, Vicki Donovan stopped in front of their table on her way out of the grille and said, "I think I know you," while staring intently at Damon.

He smirked his signature smirk and said, "That's unfortunate."

Sidney scowled down at her sneakers. "I'm gonna go find Elena, Caroline and Bonnie," she said, and Damon's eyes flickered over to her. "Glad you're feeling better, Vicki. Damon, I'm sure I'll end up seeing you soon. Bye."

She got to her feet and tossed a ten dollar bill down on the table before grabbing her jacket and striding out of the grille. A part of her wanted to take off running into the woods, dig up her old friend Jack Daniels, and screw the comet. But Elena was buying candles at a stall just outside the grille and smiled when she saw Sidney.

"Hey," Elena said, immediately noticing the look on her older sister's face. "Here." She started digging through her purse and pulled out Sidney's bottle of depression pills. "I brought these because Jenna thought you forgot to take them this morning."

Sidney didn't know whether to be grateful or pissed, so she just said, "Thanks," and popped one before shoving the bottle in the pocket of her jacket.

Elena cocked her head toward the crowd of people gathered on the lawn of Main Street. "Let's go meet up with Bonnie and Caroline," she said. "Come on."

With a slight grin, Sidney followed her sister across the street, smiling when she saw their friends waiting for them. She suddenly realized that she hadn't taken any pictures of the festival: She had been so busy working the booth that she'd completely forgotten.

"Hey, guys," Sidney said with a smile and lifted up her camera. "Say cheese!"

Elena chuckled lowly and passed around the candles. "I got these for everyone," she said. "C'mon. Let's go find seats."

As they walked, Caroline tugged on Sidney's hand and reached up to whisper in her ear, "Look. There's Matt." When Sidney bit her lip, Caroline rolled her eyes and said, "Go talk to him."

"What do I say?" Sidney freaked.

Caroline rolled her eyes again and shrugged. "Ask him to light your candle," she said.

Sidney nodded in determination, completely missing the innuendo, and marched forward, immediately losing her confidence the second she stepped in front of Matt. "Uh, h-hey," she said in a shaking voice.

Matt grinned warmly though and, as if he had heard everything Caroline had said, reached forward and passed the flame on his candle to Sidney's. "Hey," he responded calmly. "Is your sister here?"

Sidney needed alcohol again. Now.

"Yeah," she said, and turned around. "Elena!" she called, walking back toward Caroline and Bonnie as Elena and Matt started to talk.

"You did good," Bonnie said hastily, rubbing Sidney's back. Sidney just raised an eyebrow at her, and snapped a few shots of the comet to keep from thinking of Matt, or Elena, or whiskey, or Damon.

When she looked away from the camera screen, Matt was in front of her again. Sidney frowned in confusion and looked around for Elena.

Ah... There she was, watching the sky with Stefan at her side. No wonder Matt looked so annoyed.

"Hey, Gilbert," Tyler Lockwood greeted, ambling over and draping himself across a park bench.

"Hi," Sidney responded suspiciously. She and Tyler didn't really talk to each other much, except for that one time at a football game, but that had been two years ago, and the conversation had been about hot dog condiments. They weren't exactly friends.

"What's up with your brother and Vicki Donovan?" he asked in a low voice, shooting looks at Matt once in a while.

Sidney leveled him with a flat look. "And I'm supposed to know, how?" she asked. She shook her head and then said, "Look, Tyler, he's my younger brother. We don't talk about stuff like that. And I doubt Vicki is interested in him." Sidney scowled at what she said next. "If there's anyone you need to worry about, it's Damon Salvatore."

"Damon Salvatore?" Tyler repeated, but Elena was walking over so Sidney ignored him and met her sister halfway.

"I ended it," Elena said softly, answering Sidney's unspoken question. "And, yes, I'm fine," she continued again when Sidney raised her eyebrows. She shrugged and smiled faintly. "I'm gonna go to the grille. You coming?"

Sidney shrugged and then shook her head. Damon was still in there, and besides, Sidney was sick of crowds. She needed a minute to herself. "I'm gonna stay and watch the comet a while longer," she said. "You go ahead. I'll text you."

Elena looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead she just nodded and followed Bonnie, Caroline, Matt, and Tyler, and Sidney loved her for it.

Sidney sighed and looked around the crowded lawn. She didn't want to stay here. She thought about digging up the alcohol that she hadn't touched in months, but decided against it and started walking to the old playground across from town hall. There were a few kids on the slide and the monkey bars, but the swing set was empty, so Sidney sat there.

She was frustrated. There was just no other word for it. Sidney wasn't sad, she wasn't angry, she wasn't depressed, so the pills did absolutely nothing. But Matt was hopelessly in love with Elena, Damon was impossible, Caroline was pushy, Jeremy was on drugs, Sidney's pictures had been terrible lately, and Mom and Dad were never coming back.

Sidney just wanted to forget, for a bit. Just a minute, just a second. She just wanted to forget.

"Hey, stranger."

Sidney looked up and couldn't help but smile. She should have known Damon would find her. "Hey," she responded softly, not looking at him as he took the empty swing next to hers.

"So, I found these on the sidewalk, and they had your name on the prescription, so..." Damon trailed off. He was holding a plastic, orange pill container in his hand, and Sidney flushed when she realized that she had dropped her depression medication.

"Thanks," she said, and took the bottle and stuffed it in her pocket, zipping it this time.

They swung back and forth in silence for a few minutes, before the quiet got to Sidney and she finally said, in a bitter, jaded voice, "And this is where you ask me why I'm carrying around depression pills."

Damon looked at her and smirked, but the smirk was different this time. Warmer, almost. "Is that what a 'normal' human being would do?" he asked wryly.

Sidney shrugged. "Yes."

"Then, yes."

Sidney sighed and glanced up at the comet, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I'm guessing you know Elena and my parents died last year," she said conversationally, casually. She had talked to the psychiatrist about this, but that's it. No one else. Bonnie and Caroline had heard from Elena. So why wasn't Sidney nervous?

She took a deep breath, refusing to look at Damon, and continued. "Elena was going to this frat party at the college with Caroline and Bonnie. I wanted to go, but I was sick. I had gotten a stomach bug, so I couldn't go. Jeremy was an freshman, so he wasn't invited. Elena called me. She was drunk. She had gotten stranded at the party and needed me to come pick her up."

Sidney chanced a quick glance at Damon before her next words. He was staring at her intently, a slight frown curving his lips. Sidney took another deep breath and looked away.

"It's my fault they died, you know," she said quickly. "I could have driven. I wasn't throwing up anymore. But I was too tired, so I asked Mom and Dad to pick her up and, well, their car drove off a bridge. Elena made it out. They didn't.

"I lost it at the funeral and ran out. I raided Dad's old collection that he used to keep in the basement. It was my fault. All my fault. I was drunk as hell and angry and crying and there was no one else in the house because the funeral was still happening, and I took the kitchen knife and just... started _cutting_, and when Elena and Jeremy and Aunt Jenna got home, I was already unconscious."

Sidney had been talking faster and faster and Damon hadn't said a word the entire time. When he finally did speak, they were the only two left on the playground and the only part of the comet they could still see was its tail.

"Let's get you home," he said, and as he drove her to her house, he was just as sarcastic and witty as he always was.

But Sidney could feel the difference: There was a weight lifted off of her shoulders, and for the first time, she could start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.


	5. Family Dinner

**Damsel In Distress Diaries**  
**Chapter 5: Family Dinner**  
**A/N: I'd recommend listening to C'mon by Kesha for the first half of this chapter and then Gravity by Sara Barelies for the second. Just to clear up some of the confusion, Sidney is older than Elena by a year. She's a senior in high school and turns eighteen in November. She's taking eleventh grade Chemistry and History because she failed them the year before. And, no, she isn't happy about this at all. This is also why her best friends are all juniors.**

Sidney stared drowsily into her thermos of coffee, sitting at her desk in Mr. Tanner's classroom a full ten minutes early. She was definitely feeling the effects of staying so late at the festival the night before, and she knew that everyone else probably wasn't going to be in the best of moods either.

"Morning, Siddie," Damon said with a wolfish grin, sliding into his seat behind hers.

Then again...

"Ssh, don't say anything," she cautioned without looking at him, holding a hand out. "It's too early for life right now."

She wasn't sure, but Sidney thought Damon was rolling his eyes. "Feeling better this morning?" he asked casually.

Sidney smiled at him gratefully. "Much," she said. She paused for a second. "Thank you," she blurted quickly and glanced down at the camera hanging around her neck like it always did.

"Why are you so obsessed with that thing?" Damon asked, staring at it curiously. "Every time I see you, you've got it on."

Sidney bit her lip, not sure if she should tell him. Her friends knew. Her family knew. And she had told Damon about her parents, so why not?

"Dad was an amateur photographer," she explained. "He got me hooked. Taught me everything I know."

"Can I see some of your work?" Damon asked.

Sidney shrugged and handed the camera over, letting him scroll through the pictures. "They haven't been that good lately," she said with a slight frown. "I didn't take any pictures over the summer, so I'm a bit rusty. But I think I'm getting better."

Damon handed the camera back with a grin. "You are," he said in an honest voice, causing Sidney to smile at him.

"Thanks," she said. Her phone buzzed just then, and she didn't notice the way Damon stared intently out the window as she checked it.

"It's Elena," Sidney explained. "She wants to have everyone over for dinner tonight." Sidney glanced up at Damon, hesitated a second, and then smiled. "And you're coming," she decided, and fired off a quick text before snapping her phone shut and grinning in satisfaction.

Damon raised an eyebrow. "I don't recall agreeing to this," he commented, not really caring either way.

Sidney returned with a smirk of her own. "I'm sorry," she corrected playfully. "Allow me to invite you. Damon, would you grace us all with your presence at dinner tonight?"

He smiled. "You couldn't keep me away."

The bell rang then and Mr. Tanner entered the room. Sidney's eyes widened and she chugged down her thermos of coffee, making a face once she was done and hiding it under her chair.

"Miss Gilbert," Mr. Tanner called back to her, writing the day's notes on the chalk board, "kindly refrain from bringing your breakfast into my classroom from now on. You know the rules."

"Yes, Mister Tanner," she replied abashedly, smiling sheepishly, causing Damon to roll his eyes and kick the back of her seat.

The second bell trilled, triggering a mass influx into the class room, and Sidney frowned when she saw the worried look on Bonnie's face. Matt took his seat, sparing Sidney a "Morning" that made her melt slightly, and Caroline smiled brightly and waved before taking her seat.

Elena and Stefan were last to enter, and neither of the Gilbert sisters noticed the way Stefan glared and Damon smirked.

* * *

Stefan Salvatore was many things, but subtle was not one of them.

Sidney wasn't quite sure what to think when he asked to be her partner in Chemistry that day: Should she be amused? Suspicious? Worried? In all honesty, she was all of the above, but the second he said the words, "So, you've been spending a lot of time with my brother lately", Sidney immediately knew that she probably wasn't going to like this conversation.

"Yes?" Sidney replied hesitantly, chewing on the end of her Bic pen.

Stefan glanced at their test tube and stuck in the thermometer. "He's not a good guy, you know," he commented lowly. "Damon, I mean."

Sidney frowned as Stefan pulled out the thermometer and checked it. "55," he said.

"He's been nothing but nice to me," Sidney said, scribbling down the number on her paper.

Stefan scowled darkly. "We're brothers, Sidney. I know him better than anyone, and trust me, he isn't someone you want to get involved with. I think you should distance yourself while you still can."

Sidney bit her lip, glaring angrily at the test tube as she added rock salt and stirred. "And I think you shouldn't worry so much," she said with a slight quirk of her lips at him. "It's not like Damon's a murderer or an escaped convict or anything. And besides, who I hang out with is my business," she said firmly, with raised eyebrows, biting her lip. "Not yours."

Stefan just stared at her with an unreadable expression. "I hope you realize just who you're getting yourself involved with before it's too late."

Sidney wanted to ask him what that was supposed to mean, but Stefan was strangely quiet for the rest of the period, and left the second the bell rang. Sidney spent the rest of the day running his words over and over in her head, wondering what he had meant and why he had felt the need to warn her away from Damon. She was still distracted that evening, helping set up for the dinner party, and Caroline finally snapped.

"Okay, what is _up _with you today, Sid?" she demanded, scowling dramatically at Sidney from across the dining room table.

Sidney sighed and glanced up at the chandelier. "It's nothing," she tried to excuse, setting down the pitcher of iced tea.

"It is not nothing, and you know it," Caroline scoffed, "so spill. Is it Damon?"

Sidney bit her lip. "Sort of," she admitted. "I told him about the whole suicide thing."

Caroline's mouth fell open and she set down the fork she had been holding with a smack. "Seriously?" she demanded in an awed whisper. "You didn't even tell me about that! Elena did!" Caroline pouted then and started to set the table again. "I need a boyfriend."

"Damon is not my boyfriend!" Sidney blurted hastily. "He's just a... friend. I guess."

Was that the right word for them? They spent a lot of time at school together, and Sidney _had_ told him something pretty personal. So, yeah, she guessed that they were friends. Sort of.

Luckily, the doorbell rang then, sparing Sidney from answering any more of Caroline's questions.

"I'll get it!" Sidney called as she pulled the door open, coming face to face with Damon.

He grinned smoothly and waved with the hand that wasn't holding a cake. "I brought dessert," he said.

"Hey," Sidney said. "And, thank you." She took the cake and started for the kitchen, only stopping and looking back when she realized Damon hadn't followed her and was still standing on the front porch. "Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked with a confused grin. "Come on in."

So, with a hesitant grin, Damon did.

"You have a lovely home," he commented, staring around the front hall and smiling at the family photos. Caroline was standing in the doorway to the dining room, and he grinned at her with raised eyebrows. "Hello, Caroline."

"Hi," she said saucily, sauntering over and causing Sidney to shoot her a knowing look.

Elena and Bonnie stepped out of the kitchen then, Elena greeting Damon with a hesitant, un-trusting smile and a "Hi. Glad you could come", and Bonnie staring at him warily. Sidney realized with a start that Damon and her friends hadn't been properly introduced yet.

"Damon, this is Bonnie, Caroline, and my sister, Elena," she said. "Guys, this is Damon."

"It's nice to meet you," Bonnie said, not moving to take Damon's hand.

He nodded at her, keeping a polite smile on his face, and turned around to stare at the door. "I think ol' Steffy's here," he commented casually. "Does he know I'm coming?"

"I told him," Elena said with a nod, which surprised Sidney for some reason. "He knows."

Damon grinned wolfishly, still staring at the front door. "Good," was all he said.

Elena opened the door and a few seconds later she and Stefan were bustling into the dining room. Stefan and Damon stared at each other for what felt like hours.

"Brother," Damon finally said with a smirk.

"Brother," Stefan returned with an equally knowing smile.

And that was that. Stefan turned to Sidney and grinned. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior during Chemistry today," he said, causing her to raise her eyebrows.

"It's nothing. Really, it's fine," Sidney started to say, but Stefan waved her off.

"I brought you this," he said, producing an aluminum tin of tea bags from his jacket pocket and handing it to her. "Elena told me you're always drinking coffee and tea, and this is some of my favorite. It's made with this herb called vervain. I thought you might like it."

Sidney gaped happily, taking the tin, not noticing how Damon had tensed up beside her. "Thank you!" she said with a delighted smile on her face. "Thank you so much!" Not knowing what else to do, she hugged Stefan quickly before dashing off to the kitchen to make a cup of tea.

Stefan smirked at Damon, who scowled unhappily.

Game on.

* * *

Dinner was awkward, there was just no other word for it. Caroline's attempts to flirt with Damon were failed attempts, and he spent the entire time scowling at Sidney's mug of tea. Stefan was smirking happily. Bonnie just kept eating food. Elena was terrible at making conversation, and Sidney filled the silence with incessant chatter.

Elena swallowed a bite of pasta and asked Stefan, "Did Tanner give you a hard time today?"

Damon smirked slightly and raised an eyebrow. "Ah, I heard," he said. "My little brother's a football player now. How typical."

Stefan just shot him a look. "Well, he let me on the team, so I must have done something right," he said, nodding his head.

Elena smiled. "Bonnie, you should have seen Stefan today," she said. "Tyler threw a ball right at his head, and-"

"Yeah, I heard." Bonnie cut her off.

Caroline raised her eyebrows at Sidney across the table. "Awkward," she mouthed, and Sidney agreed with her.

"Why don't you tell Stefan about your family?" Elena tried again.

Bonnie glared at Elena before turning to Stefan. "Um, divorced. No mom. Live with my dad."

Sidney furrowed her brow and stared into her mug of tea. Family was a touchy subject for Bonnie, but she figured Elena must have been talking about the whole witches thing.

Sure enough: "No. About the witches."

Damon and Stefan both perked up at that, and Stefan turned to Elena.

"Bonnie's family has a lineage of witches. It's really cool," Elena told him.

"Cool isn't the word I'd use," Bonnie said in a flat voice.

Sidney frowned. Why was Bonnie acting so weird? True, Sidney hadn't hung out with her since the night of the comet, and that was only for a few minutes, but this just felt out of the blue.

"Well, it's certainly interesting," Stefan said. "I'm, uh, not too versed, but I think there's a history of Celtic druids that migrated here in the 1800's."

"My family came by way of Salem," Bonnie answered, taking another bite of pasta.

"Really?" Stefan said, and Bonnie nodded awkwardly.

"Well, isn't that interesting?" Damon commented drily.

Stefan glared at him stonily before turning back to Bonnie. "That really is cool," he insisted.

"Really?" Bonnie seemed fascinated. "Why?"

Stefan smiled and leaned forward. "Salem witches are heroic examples of individualism," he explained, a hint of awe to his voice. "And non-conformity."

Bonnie smiled at him, and Sidney thought that he had said the best thing he possibly could have said to her.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I am stuffed," Sidney said with a grin. "I'm gonna go clean up.

"I'll help," Elena said, hopping to her feet as well. "I think things have gone pretty well," she commented once they were in the kitchen. "We were off to a rocky start in the beginning, but I think Stefan really managed to turn it around."

Sidney nodded in agreement, scraping off one of the plates. "I think so too," she said, and smiled when she spotted the tin of tea bags sitting on the counter. "To be honest, I wasn't too sure of Stefan myself, but he really proved himself tonight. I like him."

Elena smiled and set down the cup she was rinsing, pulling her sister into a hug. "I'm glad," she said honestly. "I'm really, really glad."

Sidney smiled back. "Me too," she said.

Bonnie cleared her throat from the doorway. "Hey," she said, once Sidney and Elena had pulled apart.

"Can we help?" Caroline added from behind Bonnie.

Sidney frowned and started scraping off another plate. "So, if we're all in here," she said contemplatively, "then Stefan and Damon are alone by themselves?" She set down the plate. "That should be interesting."

* * *

That night, Damon was staring down at Sidney's sleeping face contemplatively, tracing his index finger against her jaw line.

_"Alright. You've met Elena, you've screwed with Sidney's head, you've terrorized me. You've had your fun. Now, it's time for you to go."_

Damon scoffed and pressed at Sidney's freckled nose. Did Stefan really think he could control him? Damon was stronger, smarter, _better_. He wasn't subservient, wasn't a slave to his emotions. To Elena. To his blood lust. Not to anything! And certainly not to Stefan.

Stefan didn't decide when Damon had had enough fun. Damon did.

_"But that's the thing, Damon. So you've been invited in. So what? You can't do anything to Sidney without her remembering, and I know you're not going to kill her. So what's the point, Damon? I've given her vervain. You can't control her."_

But that was just it, Damon didn't _want_ to control her. Sidney was funny. She blurted out whatever popped into her head without thinking it through. She was honest and original and goofy and never tried to be anything but herself. Damon hadn't encountered someone like her ever before. She interested him, that was all.

And when the time came- when Damon had had his fun and Sidney no longer amused him.

Well. He'd kill her.


End file.
